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February 2016 Issue of the NJPH Journal THE FIRST U.S. WARSHIP SUNK ON 7 DECEMBER 1941:
NEW JERSEY-BUILT BATTLESHIP, USS OKLAHOMA (BB 37)1
By: Captain Lawrence B. Brennan, U.S. Navy (Retired). Member, NJPHS
“Oklahoma failed to fire a single shot in anger
during two world wars.” 2
USS Oklahoma (BB 37) was built by New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jersey.
She was the first U.S. warship sunk in the Pacific during World War II and was violently destroyed
with massive loss of life. She was struck on the port side by as many as nine aircraft-launched
torpedoes, and capsized within 12 minutes. The battleship sank at Pearl Harbor on the morning of
Sunday, 7 December 1941, with the loss of 429 officers and men; suffering the second greatest
number of casualties that morning. Together with USS Arizona (BB 39) more than 60% of the
fatalities that morning were suffered by these two ships on Battleship Row.
Beginnings:
Oklahoma was ordered on 4 March 1911 during the Taft Administration. She was the
second of a pair of Nevada-class battleships, the U.S. Navy’s first super-dreadnoughts and oilburning
ships. Oklahoma was the only US warship ever named for the 46th state.3
Oklahoma’s keel was laid down on 26 October 1912. She was launched a year and a half
later on 23 March 1914. The launch was preceded by an invocation – the first in half a century for
a U.S. warship. On the night of 19 July 1915, a year plus after launching, large fires were
discovered underneath the forward main turret, the third in a U.S. battleship in less than a month.
The fire had been caused by “defective insulation” or a mistake made by a dockyard worker. This
casualty delayed the battleship’s completion so that she was not commissioned until 2 May 1916
at Philadelphia Navy Yard, with Captain Roger Welles, U.S. Navy in command.
The First Years
Following commissioning, the ship remained on the East Coast. After the United States
declared war on the German Empire in April 1917, Oklahoma was unable to join Battleship
Division Nine, which had been sent to support the Grand Fleet in the North Sea, due to a lack of
oil available in the United Kingdom. In 1917, she underwent an upgrade of her guns, including
installation of anti-aircraft defense, and repositioning of her 5 inch guns. While berthing
conditions were cramped, the sailors enjoyed multiple educational opportunities. They also spent
their time on athletics, including boxing, wrestling and rowing meets with the crews of USS Texas
(BB 35) and the New Jersey-built tug USS Ontario (AT 13). These competitions led to fleet-wide
establishment of athletic teams by the 1930s.
World War I
Oklahoma enjoyed a relatively pacific war. On 13 August 1918, she was assigned to
Battleship Division Six under Rear Admiral Thomas S. Rodgers, and departed for Europe with her
sister ship, Nevada. On 23 August they rendezvoused with destroyers USS Balch (DD 50), USS
Conyngham (DD 58), the New Jersey-built USS Downes (DD 45), USS Kimberly (DD 80), USS
Allen (DD 66), and USS Sampson (DD 63), 275 nautical miles west of Ireland‘s west coast, before
steaming for Berehaven Harbor, where they waited 18 days before Utah arrived. The division
remained at anchor, tasked to protect American convoys sailing in the area, but was only underway
once in 80 days. Just before the end of hostilities, on 14 October 1918, while under command of
Captain McVay, she escorted troop ships into an English port, returning on 16 October. Then, the
ship conducted her initial drills at anchor in nearby Bantry Bay.
Convoying President Wilson and Between the Wars
Oklahoma sailed for Portland, England on 26 November 1918, and was joined there by
Arizona on 30 November, Nevada on 4 December, and ultimately Battleship Division Nine. These
ships served as a convoy escort for the former German liner, USS George Washington (TT 31081)
carrying President Woodrow Wilson to peace negotiations in France following WWI. She then
spent early 1919 conducting winter battle drills off the coast of Cuba, and on 15 June 1919, she
returned to Brest, escorting Wilson on his second trip, and returned to New York on 8 July. A part
of the Atlantic Fleet for the next two years, Oklahoma was overhauled, and early in 1921, she
proceeded to the west coast of South America for combined exercises with the Pacific Fleet, before
returning later that year for the Peruvian Centennial.
Oklahoma then joined the Pacific Fleet and participated in a training cruise. The largest
collection of U.S. battleships since the Great White Fleet departed San Francisco on 15 April 1925
and arrived in Hawaii on 27 April, where they conducted war games. The fleet then departed for
Samoa, visiting Australia and New Zealand before returning home. In early 1927, she transited
the Panama Canal and joined the Scouting Fleet. In November 1927, Oklahoma entered
Philadelphia Navy Yard for an extensive overhaul: the addition of eight 5 inch guns; an aircraft
catapult was installed atop of one of the after turrets; she was substantially up-armored with antitorpedo
bulges and an additional two inches of steel on her armor deck. Her beam was expanded
to 108 feet, the widest in the U.S. Navy and just within the width of the Panama Canal.
Oklahoma returned to the West Coast in June 1930 for fleet operations through spring 1936.
That summer, she carried midshipmen on a European training cruise. The cruise was interrupted
with the outbreak of civil war in Spain, as Oklahoma steamed to Bilbao, Spain arriving on 24 July
1936 to rescue American citizens and refugees whom she carried to Gibraltar and French ports.
She returned to Norfolk on 11 September, and departed for the West Coast.
Oklahoma was based at Pearl Harbor from 29 December 1937; only twice did she return to
the mainland, once to have anti-aircraft guns and armor added to her superstructure at Puget Sound
Navy Yard in February 1941 and once to have armor replaced at San Pedro in mid-August 1941.
On 23 August, after encountering rough seas, she had to deviate to San Francisco, the closest navy
yard with an adequate dry-dock, where she remained until mid-October.
Pearl Harbor
Figure 14 below is an aerial view of “Battleship Row” moorings at Pearl Harbor on the
southern side of Ford Island, 10 December 1941, showing damage from the Japanese raid three
days earlier. In upper left is the sunken USS California (BB 44), with smaller vessels clustered
around her. Diagonally, from left center to lower right are: USS Maryland (BB 46), lightly
damaged, with the capsized USS Oklahoma (BB 37) outboard. A barge is alongside Oklahoma,
supporting rescue efforts. USS Tennessee (BB 43), lightly damaged, with the sunken USS West
Virginia (BB 48) outboard. USS Arizona (BB 39), sunk, with her hull shattered by the explosion
of the magazines below the two forward turrets. Note dark oil streaks on the harbor surface,
originating from the sunken battleships.7
On Friday, 5 December 1941, Oklahoma returned to Pearl Harbor; it was her last day
underway. Then, on Sunday, 7 December 1941, the first of four waves of the Japanese air strikes
commenced more than an hour after USS Ward (DD 139)8 reported that she had attacked a
Japanese midget submarine after searching for two hours near the harbor entrance.9 Oklahoma,
moored outboard of USS Maryland (BB 46), was fatally wounded during the first of four waves
of air attacks that morning. While the crew was ordered below for protection from the attack and
to their battle stations, many of the men were trapped when Oklahoma capsized.
Oklahoma’s Commanding Officer, Captain Howard D. Bode, had departed the ship just
before the attack began and stayed on board Maryland. Oklahoma was sunk by at least six
torpedoes and multiple bombs. She capsized within 12 minutes as a result of lack of watertight
integrity following the torpedo hits on her port side. Oklahoma’s bilge inspection covers had been
removed for a scheduled routine inspection the following day (8 December 1941). This precluded
counter flooding to prevent capsizing.12 Her crew abandoned ship but many of the men remained
in the fight, clambering aboard Maryland.
Salvage and Wreck Removal
Wreck removal of Oklahoma commenced on 15 July 1942 under Captain F.H. Whitaker,
U.S. Navy and a team from the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. In 1943 she was righted. Unlike
the other battleships - except Arizona - that were salvaged following Pearl Harbor, Oklahoma was
too heavily damaged to be returned to service. She was decommissioned and stricken on 1
September 1944, a year and a day before the surrender of Japan. Eventually she was stripped of
all remaining armaments and superstructure before being sold for scrap in 1946. The hulk sank in
a storm while being towed from Oahu to a breakers yard in San Francisco Bay on 17 May 1947.15
Oklahoma received a single battle star.
Remaining Artifacts
The National Postal Museum at the Smithsonian houses some remarkable artifacts from
Oklahoma, relating to the attack on Pearl:
“I am well” cards were issued to sailors after the bombing at Pearl, so sailors could let their
families know they were OK. An example is shown in Figure 22.
*This in an abridged version of this article, which appears in full in the February issue of NJPH.
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______________________________________________
ENDNOTES: |
1 Copyright 2016 by Lawrence B. Brennan. All moral and legal rights reserved. This may not be copied, republished,
or distributed without the express written consent of the copyright holder.
2 Captain Herbert Fox Rommel, Jr., U.S. Navy (1915-2007) commanded five commissioned ships and the Washington
Navy Yard. He was a Turret Captain in Oklahoma
3 This article reproduces information from Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Oklahoma_%28BB-
37%29, which in turn depends heavily on information on the DANFS (Dictionary of American Fighting Ships) site
at http://web.archive.org/web/20070911120713/http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/o2/oklahoma.htm As DANFS is
a work of the U.S. government, its content is in the public domain, and the text is often quoted verbatim in other
works (including in some cases Wikipedia articles). Many websites organized by former and active crew members
of U.S. Navy vessels include a copy of their ships’ DANFS entries.
4 A Library of Congress Photo http://loc.gov/pictures/resource/ggbain.15699/
5 A Wikipedia photo at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Oklahoma_BB-37.jpg
6 This scan by Jon Burdett, in the Naval Cover Museum at
http://www.navalcovermuseum.org/wiki/images/7/70/JonBurdett_oklahoma_bb37_19210103.jpg
7 Official U.S. Navy photograph 80-G-387565.
8 She was sunk on 7 December 1944 by a kamikaze.
9 Morison, Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot, History of United States Naval Operations In World War II, Volume III, The
Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931-April 1942 (Boston: 1948 Little, Brown & Co.) pp. 95-98.
10 Oklahoma History at http://www.okhistory.org/kids/usshistory2
11 Original diagram from http://navsource.org/archives/01/037/013719a.jpg
12 http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/umrcourses/ge342/Salvage%20of%20USS%20Oklahoma.pdf. It was incredible after
the War Warning of November 1941 to schedule a routine inspection of Oklahoma, or any other combatant vessel.
But that was precisely what was ordered by Vice Admiral William S. Pye, U.S. Navy, Commander, Battle Force,
United States Fleet.
13 Wikipedia article using Nara photo 295984 at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/295984
14 Photo from http://uboat.net/allies/commanders/4343.html
15 Oklahoma History at http://www.okhistory.org/kids/usshistory2
16 From the U.S. Militaria Form blogsite at http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/168850-
1941-pearl-harbor-postal-history-post-yours/
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Members: One of the benefits of membership is sharing your interests and collections! If you would like to share an interesting single item from your collection, or have multiple items to share - the NJPHS Galleries offer you the opportunity to put your collectibles on center stage. Please e-mail your webmaster about contributing to our on-line Galleries. We can even help you if you do not have a scanner or digital images. Just ask. Remember, we are always looking for articles of interest for the NJPH Journal, and would welcome your contribution whether it's a single page or five page article.
If you are not yet a member, please consider the benefits of joining and the satisfaction you'll get by sharing with your fellow collectors: Become a Member |
